ROCKINGHAM — Returning to the court for the first time in eight days, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ tennis team split Tuesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference doubleheader.
The Lady Raiders took the opening match against visiting Jack Britt High School 5-4, before falling in the later match 4-5.
In the opening contest, Richmond split the six singles matches with the Lady Buccaneers, before earning two wins in doubles play to earn the win.
Collecting the singles wins for Richmond were senior Kaylee Parker, junior Kirsten McDonald and freshman Neely Turner.
In the No. 3 singles match, Parker defeated Kelly Chay 9-7 in a tiebreaker. Turner picked up her first singles win of the season, defeating Sara Dickerson 8-2 in the No. 5 match.
No. 6 McDonald also earned her first singles victory of the campaign, edging Faith Weigand 8-4.
Richmond’s No. 1 senior Kearston Bruce and No. 2 freshman Katie Way fell to Taylor Benson and Riley Nazario, while No. 4 junior Paris Almon lost to Delaney Coppeler.
Helping solidify the win in doubles play were the No. 1 and No. 3 Lady Raider pairings.
No. 1 Bruce and Way redeemed their singles losses with an 8-4 win over Benson and Nazario, while No. 3 Almon and senior Natalie Pattan teamed up to take down Dickerson and Weigand 8-6.
The No. 2 duo of Parker and Turner lost to Chay and Coppeler 3-8.
No. 5 freshman Neely Turner returns a shot during her singles win over Sara Dickerson. (Kyle Pillar)
The Lady Raiders didn’t have as much success in the second match’s singles round, dropping five of the six contests. The lone win came from No. 6 sophomore Addison Massey, who defeated Weigand 8-1.
No. 1 Bruce fell to Benson 2-8, No. 2 Way lost to Nazario 2-8, No. 3 Parker dropped her match 4-8 to Chay, No. 4 Almon came up short 2-8 against Coppeler and No. 5 McDonald was edged 6-8 by Dickerson.
Leading 5-1, Jack Britt forfeited all three doubles matches to give the Lady Raiders their other trio of wins.
The Lady Raiders (3-3 SAC) will have a quick turnaround and host Hoke County High School on Wednesday. The first match of the doubleheader will start at 4 p.m.
